


Snapped

by buffymysavior



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fix-it fic, Love Triangles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 17:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14049342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buffymysavior/pseuds/buffymysavior
Summary: It's her first day of high school, and she's hoping that things will go smoothly, that her best friends will stick by her side. Instead, they're standing in the hole, and Lucas is yelling at her.





	Snapped

It’s her first day of high school, and she’s hoping that things will go smoothly, that her best friends will stick by her side.

Instead, they’re standing in the hole, and Lucas is yelling at her.

This is definitely _not_ how she expected her first day of high school to play out. She expected Maya and her friends loyal at her side, facing each challenge thrown at them _together_. She knew there would be difficulties in this new world, and she thought she had been ready to face them.

Now, she isn’t so sure.

Riley’s in disbelief that most of her problems on her first day of high school sprout from her best friends. Most of it comes from Lucas, who is constantly defying her, basically telling her she’s stupid to have faith in people she doesn’t know. It hurts more than she cares to admit, and she struggles to keep her face void of any emotion.

She defends herself to him, saying that she believes that nothing that ever happens to them is random. He should understand that of all people. She knows that it’s not a coincidence that she fell onto his lap on the subway. It happened for a reason. That’s what she’s always believed.

Clearly, he doesn’t feel the same. She knows this the moment the words leave his mouth.

“Sometimes, you are just too much for me, Riley.”

Riley can feel her lungs constrict, and her breathing shallows as the words register. She feels like there’s a rubber band inside her that’s being stretched too thin, and it snaps as she fights the tears threatening to fall from her eyelids.

She closes her eyes and it hurts to breathe. She’s never felt like she was too much for him, not until now. Not until ‘just her’ stopped being good enough.

“You’re really upset at me for ‘not believing in you’ since you want to join the football team? Because I have faith in seniors that have been here for the past three years, that know better than us?” Riley argues, feeling the restricting boundaries in her chest dissolve. All the things she’s been wanting to say begin to surface as she rants. “That’s _grand_ , coming from you.”

The fire in his eyes ignites like a bonfire, not unlike the one he nearly kissed her best friend at. The anger in her chest rises. She didn’t even know this side of her existed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lucas scowls, his hands in fists. Not until that moment had Riley ever been worried that he would actually _hurt_ anyone, that he would ever hurt _her_.

Riley crosses her arms defensively. “I would have appreciated some support during my cheerleader tryouts, but my _friends_ , the people I thought I could always count on, told me that I couldn’t do it. Not a single one of you believed in me until the very end.”

Lucas’s anger deflates slightly. “This is different than that, Riley.” Everyone around them is watching in anticipation.

“Really? How?” Her rare anger flares right back up at him. “It’s pretty much the exact same situation, Lucas! The only difference with this time is that _everyone_ supports you, except me.” Everyone looks around at each other with guilty expressions.

Lucas stares at her with his blazing green eyes, and she fights the urge to drop her own to the floor. The bell rings, and everyone hesitantly starts up the stairs, except for Riley and Lucas.

“Guys, aren’t you coming?” Maya calls down. Riley is about to follow when Lucas stops her.

“We’re not done talking yet,” Lucas says, his anger more controlled than it was a few seconds before. Riley feels her stomach drop. Of course he’s not angry at Maya; she’s not the one who declared he would get killed on the football team, that believes in people she doesn’t know.

Reluctantly, Maya walks to class as Riley nods her approval. She tries to ignore the aching she feels from holding back her tears. The only thing she’s glad about is that everyone isn’t watching her spectacle with Lucas now. It was embarrassing enough to watch him say she’s too much for him in front of all their friends. Maybe this time he can yell at her without anyone staring.

He turns back to look at her and his face is stony. “Why don’t you believe in me?”

She crosses her arms. “Of course I believe in you, Lucas. I promised I always would.”

Her stares at her blankly, eyes piercing.

“Do you know how scared I was for you when you rode Tombstone?” she pleads with him. “I was encouraging because I know you can do anything, Lucas, and because I believe in you. But I know I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you got hurt, and I supported you,” she admits. “Besides, I know you only want to play because you think you can’t protect us here.”

Surprise is written across his face. “How’d you know about that?”

“Because I know you,” she replies. “You really think that I don’t believe in you? Lucas, I believe in a planet four billion miles away. You guys have always been right here with me.” She lets out a humorless laugh. “Well, maybe not today.”

Lucas shifts his eyes to the floor. Part of her wants him to feel bad for a twisted reason she has no explanation for. “I’m sorry about what I said,” he says sheepishly.

“Don’t be,” she smiles sadly. “Everyone else seems to agree with you.” He looks at her with a hurt expression. She fights the tears in her eyes. “I used to feel like I was too much for everyone, except you,” she admits, her voice constricting with emotion. “Thanks for clearing that up.”

“Riley, I-,” Lucas protests. She cuts him off.

“I’m late for class,” she interrupts, running up the steps. She spots an empty bathroom and runs in, sliding her back against the inside of a stall door.

It’s her first day of high school, and she’s crying in the bathroom, wishing that the day would end.

* * *

Lucas is mentally cursing himself as he paces back and forth in the hole. How stupid was he to yell at Riley like that? She’s not _actually_ too much for him; he was just angry at her and said things in the heat of the moment. He has always appreciated Riley for who she is despite how crazy she could get sometimes. Who knew where she was right now? He highly doubts that she actually went to class. She’s probably crying in some secluded corner of the school, and he hates himself instantly for driving her there.

He can still feel anger bubbling in his chest, but it isn’t at her anymore.

It’s at himself.

How doesn’t she see that her faith in him matters? How doesn’t she see that she’s the _only_ person that he cares believes in him? Whenever Riley encouraged him or supported him, he always felt like he could do anything.

All he could feel at the moment was disgust and anger.

Isn’t this what she had been trying to prevent the entire time? Only a few months ago he said that he would always be right there, that he knew just by looking at his friends that everything would be okay. Within minutes, he destroyed that. All because of his stupid anger issues and the stupid football team and his stupid self.

He sits down in the corner of the hole, putting his face in his hands. All he had to do was protect them, protect _her_ , but he had screwed that up royally.

Not long after, students begin to flood the halls, but Lucas doesn’t care. He messed up a relationship with one of his favorite people in the world. How is he going to fix _that_?

* * *

Riley sits on her bed, used tissues covering the bedspread. She’s still sniffling several hours later, already having passed out from crying a few times. After the first few hours of sobbing, Maya had gone home, so now it’s just Riley, her box of tissues, and her Beary the Bear Bear. Neither are much comfort, not when she knows that she’s in a fight with Lucas.

 _Lucas._ The very name that’s been running through her mind for the past hours. The words that usually follow his name consist of her being too much for him, and remembering the anger on his face makes it harder and harder to choke back her tears. She squeezes Beary with more force than she knew she had and feels her heart clench.

A knock on the window sounds out through her room, and Riley looks over to find it’s Lucas at the bay window. He looks at her pleadingly. The bay window is unlocked; she was hoping some of her friends would come over to talk to her, but so far none had. All of them seem to be upset with her. The thought makes her even sadder.

Riley walks over to the window, shoving aside used tissues and tear-stained pillows. She feels the urge to throw the curtains across the bay window and tell him to leave, but she knows she shouldn’t do that. She pulls up the window with ease and Lucas steps through. “Why didn’t you come in? The window was unlocked,” Riley asks, though she doesn’t really care to know the answer. Her eyelids ache from all the tears she’s shed, and he was the cause of them, he _is_ the cause of them.

“I wasn’t sure you wanted to see me,” Lucas explains hesitantly. He looks around her room cautiously and sees the wadded up tissues on her bed. “Have you been crying?” His green eyes find her tear-stained ones and for a second he sees the pain in them. “Riley, I’m-”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” He takes a step closer to her and she backs up and sits on her bed.

“You’re not fine,” he says. “I’m so stupid, Riley. I never wanted to hurt you like this.”

“But you did,” she says, “and it’s over now, so don’t worry about it.” He gives her a skeptical look. “I’m _fine_ ,” she emphasizes.

“You’re not fine, and I don’t want you to pretend to be. I’m so sorry,” he pleads, hoping she’ll just stop lying to him.

“Lucas,” she responds, giving him a sad smile, “let’s just go back to being friends or ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’ or whatever it is we’re doing right now and forget about it. I’ll be okay.”

Lucas stares at her helplessly. How long had she been doing this, dejecting everyone and brushing everything off? Why hadn’t he noticed it before? He sits next to her on the bed. “I don’t want to forget about it, Riley. I hurt you, and that’s not okay. I want to talk about it.” She bristles at his last words. “It’s what we do, right?”

“Fine,” she snaps, and Lucas thinks he must have struck a chord. “You wanna talk? Let’s talk. Why does it matter that I believe in people trying to help us? Why is it _so_ bad that I have blind faith in people I don’t know? Because you guys have always told me that it’s what you valued most about me, but now that I do it in high school, everyone gets angry. Why?” She’s pacing in front of him now. “And why is it such a big deal that I don’t want you to get yourself killed because you’re trying to prove yourself to people who you don’t need to prove yourself to? Why does it matter so much to you if I believe in you or not?”

“Because your faith in me matters!” Lucas exclaims, anger creeping into his voice. He immediately regrets his outburst as he watches Riley stare at him with a stony expression. He reaches out for her hand and holds it. “I don’t know why I keep yelling at you, I’m sorry. You’re _not_ too much for me.”

Riley looks at him, but not the way she used to, not with her bright smiles and sparkling eyes. It’s almost as if she’s looking through him, and Lucas pulls his hand away at seeing her gaze so empty. “Riley?”

She sits on her bed, eyes fixated on her lap for several beats, before she looks up again. “It’s late. You should probably go home, get some rest,” she says, trying for a small smile. “You’ve got a big day tomorrow with football tryouts.”

Doesn’t she see that he doesn’t care about that anymore, that it doesn’t even matter at this point? “Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he replies cautiously. Her eyes are still frozen on blank space.

He glances at her one more time before exiting the window, his heart heavy with regret.

* * *

The next day, Riley wakes up to the sound of her blonde best friend jumping on the bed. “Riles, I know you’re still upset, but we have to go to school,” Maya sympathizes. “Believe me, I already tried to write you a note, but your dad tore it up.” Riley frowns, a rare occurrence during her life.

“Thank you for the effort, Peaches,” Riley says, pulling back her blankets and standing on the cold wooden floor. “We might as well face the day. Maybe they’ll have forgiven us.”

Maya half-smiles at her. “Yeah, maybe.” Clearly Maya doesn’t have as much faith in her friends as she does.

“They’ll be there,” Riley assures her, walking out of her room and into the bathroom. She has to hope, right?

* * *

Riley links her arm with Maya’s as they walk through the high-school doors. Students, most of which she doesn’t know, roam the halls freely, and her and Maya have trouble cruising through the crowd. Maya pushes through a few people, making a path towards the hole. When they reach it, Riley finds herself disappointed. The hole is empty except for a few students walking down to the other floor. Riley’s heart clenches when she sees that her friends aren’t there; maybe she’d just made things worse with Lucas the previous night.

Both of the girls stand there until the bell rings, and Riley’s hope sinks fast when she sees their four friends walking in different directions for their first period classes. She links her arms again with Maya, and walks out of the hole to her class, too.

Once again she finds herself blinking away the tears burning in her eyes.

* * *

Algebra, her final class of the day, ends several hours later, and Riley can’t remember having a more miserable day. Her friends seem to be avoiding her, and Lucas looks upset every time she glances his way. She feels bad and wonders if they’ll ever forgive her, and sadness rises in her chest when they don’t meet her eyes. It hurts more than she cares to admit.

Lucas and Zay are the first out the door when the bell rings, excited to start their football tryouts, Riley’s guessing, and Farkle and Smackle are right behind them. Maya begins to gather her stuff and walk out the door before Riley stops her. “We have to go watch Lucas’s football tryouts.”

“What? Riles, you were crying all night because of him. Why do you want to go support Huckleberry?” Maya says, turning around in the doorway.

Riley walks closer to her. “If I can’t stop him from trying out for football, then I need to support his decision.” She shudders as she remembers the hollow way she had looked at him the night before.

“Ugh,” Maya groans, shifting her belongings to her other arm. “Fine. But you have to buy me a mocha chip ice cream cone on the way home.”

“Deal,” Riley smiles, the girls walking to their lockers. Riley hopes she isn’t too late to fix things with her friends.

Riley and Maya make their way to the football field and sit in the bleachers. The coach is yelling at the boys standing on the field, backs straight and helmets on their heads. She spots Lucas and Zay right away: they’re the two smallest guys trying out. Her stomach lurches as she watches the tryouts. She can’t help but notice the amount of tackling involved. She watches intently with concern as they run around the field and practice drills, but the part that makes her jump out of her seat is when Lucas gets tossed the ball and starts running down the opposite side of the field. A huge guy that makes Hulk look like a baby squirrel goes running after him and tackles him, snatching the ball away from him. Something inside her snaps as she sees Lucas laying motionless on the field, and even Maya isn’t able to stop her from jumping to her feet and onto the field. She shoves past football players angrily and kneels next to him. He’s groaning in pain and she removes his helmet as gently as she can. “Lucas, are you okay?” The situation is almost too similar to the bull-riding competition. “Lucas?” She’s holding him by the shoulders now and he’s staring at her in shock.

He looks at her speechless before breaking out in a smile. “Riley?”

The football players surrounding them shrug and start walking away when they realize he’s okay. “Yeah, it’s me,” she smiles, relieved.

“You came?” He stares at her in disbelief. She continues to smile at him, her heart rushing with relief. “I thought you were mad at me.”

“Well, I decided this was more important than that,” she shrugs.

“I’m sorry,” he says, and her breathing shallows as he puts a hand on her cheek. “I really didn’t mean what I said.” He pauses for a second. “You could _never_ be too much for me. I love everything about you.”

Her megawatt smile returns, and his own brightens up, too. She pulls him up and he stands uneasily. Maya walks up to the two of them with a small smile on her face. “I hate to break it to you, Huckleberry, but I don’t think you made the team.” Riley feels relieved that she didn’t ask for Lucas to even up their moment.

He shrugs. “Oh, well.” He gives Riley a quick smile before saying, “I’ve got my friends. That’s what counts.”

Zay runs up to the three of them. “Hey, guys. I’m sorry about what happened, man,” he addresses Lucas.

Lucas smiles at his best friend. “It’s fine. I’m just glad we’re all okay, now.” He looks around and remembers that his other two friends aren’t there. “Well, mostly okay.”

Riley flashes her friends a smile before wrapping one arm around Lucas and the other around Maya. They all reciprocate and the four walk down the field together.

* * *

_Knock, knock._

Riley smiles warmly when she turns and finds Lucas with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. It’s a few days after the football tryouts, and her friend group is finally restored to normalcy. She opens the window and he crawls through the small space. “Hey,” he says, flashing her a bright smile. It’s her favorite smile on him and she feels like she doesn’t see it too often anymore. Not since the triangle started, anyways.

“Hey,” she replies, her eyes meeting his own green ones. “Are those for me?”

He hands them to her. “Yeah. I wanted to thank you again for watching my football tryouts, even if we didn’t make the team.”

“I said I would always believe in you,” she smiles, drinking in the fragrance of the flowers. She wonders if he knows they are her favorite. “You could never do anything to change that.”

Lucas smiles brightly at her again. “That’s good, because I want you to believe me when I say you’re really important to me.”

“I do. I do believe you,” she smiles. “You’re really important to me, too.” He holds her gaze for several moments and it’s not until then that they realize that they are leaning closer to each other.

“Um, I better-” he bites his lip. He knows that it would be wrong to kiss her while he was in a triangle with her and her best friend.

“Yeah,” she agrees, taking an instinctive step back. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” he repeats, walking towards the window.

“Thank you for the flowers!” she calls after him, and he flashes her a quick smile before exiting her window.

And the smile on her face doesn’t waver once as she puts her new flowers in a vase.


End file.
